Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony claims that Grant McCann would be a better fit than Roy Keane for the Sunderland job, and shared his thoughts on Lee Johnson's sacking. The Posh boss also shed some light on Sunderland's deadline day bid for Mark Beevers.
MCCANN'S SACKING
"Gutted for him. Trying circumstances. He won a league title and was keeping them in the league this year with not the biggest budget. He has really become a great manager and I’m really happy and proud of him. I think Sunderland’s best bit of business that they could do is give him the job."
PROMOTION
"I think he would get Sunderland out of League One. If you want my honest opinion then it’s him or my manager [Darren Ferguson] – I’m not trying to sell by my manager by the way. I’m just astonished that a multiple winner of League One promotions Grant McCann as a player and a manager."
PHILOSOPHY
“He is perfect for Sunderland with the philosophy of the new owner because he’s used to my philosophy of young players and what he’s done at Hull with younger players."
FORGET KEANE
"Forget Roy Keane, forget about a big name manager, I think Grant McCann and his staff would do an incredible job.”
SURPRISED BY LJ SACKING?
“After losing 6-0 to Bolton, no! He had some runs where they lost three or four games and they didn’t just lose, they were battered.”
WIGAN/ROTHERHAM
"Then they went on runs when they were third in the league. Unfortunately, it looks like Wigan and Rotherham could potentially run away with that league. I understand that the new owner is impatient and he doesn’t want to be hanging around League One."
DISAGREEMENTS
"I would imagine that maybe Johnson wasn’t fully on board with the policy. Maybe they had recruitment disagreements. I don’t know if that is true but it’s for Lee to come out and tell the truth."
HARSH
"It is always harsh when you fire a manager who is third in the league. Then again, I fired a manager I think when we were fifth or seventh in League One. Gary Johnson. That wasn’t about football. I got rid of Steve Evans, again it was a philosophy problem and there was a breakdown. The 6-0 may have given an opportunity for the owner to do what he wanted to do anyway.”
KEANE
"The next appointment is important, I’ve seen Roy Keane has been linked with the job but I can’t get my head around it because he isn’t someone who is going to listen to a 24-year-old owner.”
MARK BEEVERS
"If Beevers wasn't playing or involved, if we can get him out until the end of June, his wages could free up and bring in two [players]. Beevs could go and get some games and then come back to us in the summer. So, we'd obviously approached clubs earlier in the window, one of them was Sunderland."
DEADLINE DAY
"Lee Johnson did want him and Sunderland at the time felt his age, they didn't like his age, then come deadline day we were getting calls asking to bring him in. I think they'd just lost 6-0 or something. I'm not having a dig at Sunderland but at that stage we'd made the decision, with everything going on in the window, bar Dembele nobody is leaving.
CAPTAIN
"Beevs is our club captain and he's back in around it. The manager has got him in the team and we don't want to lose him now. We can't replace him. For all the reasons I've just said. We didn't want to lose those players."
